Cold-Blooded
by Neonfrost
Summary: He shivered in the cold of the night. Snow was falling heavily all around him, in thick sheets of frozen rain and dust. Stars shimmered white between the grey clouds. Slowly, his pace softened, and he fell to his knees. Pain rushed like swords up the veins in his arms. Then scales, starting at the very edge of his fingertips, formed down his arms. Zane was becoming a serpentine.


He shivered in the cold of the night. Snow was falling heavily all around him, in thick sheets of frozen rain and dust. Stars shimmered white between the grey clouds. Zane kept running. He must cheat the curse against him. Slowly, his pace softened, and he fell to his knees. His arms then began to shake; pain rushed like swords up the veins in his arms. Then green and brightly shining scales, starting at the very edge of his fingertips, made their way up the ninja of ice's arms and slowly spread to his chest and the rest of his body. A small tail formed at the end of his spine and whipped through the freezing temperature of the air. The transformation had begun. Zane was becoming a snake.

Four hours earlier

Cole, young ninja of earth, strong, collected, leader of the ninja team, rubbed his gloved finger in the green, sticky, mixture seeping from the ground. He was extremely careful not to let the sour acid touch his dark skin. "I suspect the serpentine tribes." he began. "I think the snakes, or whatever is left of them, is under the very ground we stand on!"

"Great!" Jay groaned. "So that means the ground can just break from right under our feet!"

"Well," Kai said, "Since there is snake acid coming through the ground, I guess that means they can surface at any moment."

Suddenly, the ground began to shake with a heavy, earthquake feeling heaving. The land moaned and began to crack.

"I suspect that moment is now!" Zane said quickly and surely.

"No duh!" Lloyd groaned.

"Come on, get off the cracking parts of the ground and be ready to fight!" Cole yelled. Within a moments time, the small, tree-filled forest valley had formed into a massive, gaping hole in the earth. Then, a large group of about one hundred snakes crawled up out of it. They were filthy, dirt covered, angry, and armed. The five ninja fell into fighting stances and braced for battle. Fiercely, they yelled "Ninjaaaagoo!" Five tornadoes of power flew toward the four snake tribes. Fire, earth, ice, lightning, and golden light.

"This is so much fun!" Lloyd exclaimed. "I haven't gotten to fight since the battle between me and the Overlord!"

"I wouldn't be so ecstatic." Zane proclaimed, fending off a blow from an oncoming hypnobrai. "The probability of us winning this battle is only seventeen percent!"

"Who cares about probability!" Cole yelled over the chaos.

The battle raged on for a good amount of time, the five ninja using their powers to slash through the serpentine. But they were much too outnumbered. After stabbing into a venomari snake, and nearly being killed by a constrictai behind him, Cole realized what single option lay ahead of them. "Retreat!" he cried. Lloyd, Cole, Jay, Kai, and Zane began to run from the scene.

As he began to head away from the battle, Zane suddenly he felt the tight grip of a hand grasp around his wrist. He tried with all his strength to pull away. With no success he looked behind him.

"Where do you think you're going, nindroid?" The hissing voice of a fangpyre spoke through a wretched set of fangs spearing from his mouth. Suddenly, the snake opened his mouth, then bit Zane on the wrist. He dug his fangs and sharp, pointed teeth, tearing into the wires and creating sparks in Zane's arm. Then the snake slithered away to the rest of it's kind. The pain was excruciating and tears rolled from Zane's eyes as he tried to keep from screaming.

"Hey, you coming?" Jay yelled from the distance, turning around to see Zane still feet from where the battle was. "We gotta run!" Zane turned around and met up with his teammates.

He opened his quivering mouth to speak, still suffering from pain. "Guys, I was-"

"Shut up!" Kai exploded. "We lost because your stupid talk about probability and stuff! Can't you just be quiet for a while?"

Cole punched Kai in the shoulder. "Can it, Stovetop. It ain't Zane's fault at all. But he does need to just act like a human and quit it with all the robot talk."

Zane closed his eyes. What had he done wrong? Quickly, he stored "Be quiet for a while" in his memory banks.

-

"Sensei, the serpentine are back!" Cole said worriedly, while bowing to his teacher. The group had returned to the Destiny's Bounty, and were discussing the matter in the Bridge.

Sensei Wu stroked his long, white, beard. "What are they up to this time?"

The four other ninja came into the room. "We need a new plan to defeat them." Cole continued. "Hey, can you think of anything, Zane?" Zane looked at Cole, who's gaze, fixed on him, suddenly turned to a concerned look. "Zane, are you okay? You are really pale."

The ninja of ice opened his mouth to speak, then clamped it shut. He felt sick. His head began to spin, then his vision turned cloudy and eventually everything went black. His unconscious body went limp and he collapsed on the ground.

-

"Zane? Zane!"

"Why on earth did this happen?"

"Hey, I think he's waking up!"

Sentences like so danced around in the back of Zane's mind, then they came closer and more clear. He opened his eyes slowly, to see the concerned faces of all his teammates, Nya, and Sensei Wu leaning above him. "What happened?" Zane said softly. He sat up slowly and grabbed his throbbing wrist.

"You passed out." Jay said. "Care to explain your damaged wrist?"

"I was bit by a Fangpyre." the nindroid replied plainly.

A worried, shocked look spread across everyone in the room. Cole was the first to speak. "W-why didn't you tell us?"

Zane closed his eyes and hung his head. "Must not...speak for a while."

Cole glared at Kai, who was already flushed red with regret.

"He will become a serpentine himself if not treated properly!" Sensei Wu said quickly.

"Yea, I have experience with that." Jay rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"What will we do?" Nya asked honestly, concerned, worried for her friend's life. "There is no antidote left in the Fangpyre staff, and we can't raise his heartrate because he is a droid."

"No!" Zane cried. "I don't want to be a serpentine! I don't want to be your enemy..." A single tear formed in his eye and rolled down his cheek, dripping onto the floor and staining a single spot on the carpet.

"Zane!" Cole said, setting his hand on his friend's shivering shoulder. "we will find a way."

"And I know one." Sensei Wu spoke with a clear voice. Everyone looked to him, ready to hear what he would say. "Beside the birchwood forest is a dawn-redwood forest. In the forest is a village known as the Mura Village. In this village is a medicinal tea shop- which contains a tea that can remove all venom of any sort from one's body."

"We are by the Birchwood Forest right now!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"We need to head to the Mura Village. We only have about two or three hours until Zane completes the transformation of beginning a serpentine." Lloyd said quickly. He helped Zane to his feet. "We are going to save you, friend. Let's go!"

-

At the edge of the Birchwood Forest, the five ninja stood looking into the snow filled, cold temperatured forest. The sky was beginning to glow with a bright orange and pink tint as the sun sank into the sky. The full moon began to rise on the other side.

"We have to hurry." Zane said worriedly. He moved his tongue around in his mouth. A small, sharp pair of fangs had begun growing from the top of his mouth. Quickly, he slapped his hand over his mouth in horror. "Let'sssss go."

As they walked through the forest, with the darkening sky, and the softly falling snow, the time began to grow lesser for Zane's hope. "I see lights!" Kai exclaimed. "The village is so near! We are at the other end of Birchwood!"

They all began to run as fast as their legs could carry him. Cole put his arm around Zane's shoulder, assuring that the ninja of ice did not fall behind. Zane shivered in the cold of the night. Snow was falling heavily all around him, in thick sheets of frozen rain and dust. Stars shimmered white between the grey clouds. Zane kept running. He must cheat the curse against him. Slowly, his pace softened, and he fell to his knees. His arms then began to shake; pain rushed like swords up the veins in his arms. Then green and brightly shining scales, starting at the very edge of his fingertips, made their way up the ninja of ice's arms and slowly spread to his chest and the rest of his body. A small tail formed at the end of his spine and whipped through the freezing temperature of the air. The transformation was nearing the end.

"Zane! No!" Cole gasped. "Come on! We're almost there!" Tears began to fall from his eyes.

Zane weakly stood up. His legs were weak and everything hurt. "Sssstay away. It'sssss too late for me. I will leave before I hurt you." And with that, he ran off into the dark of the forest.

-

"Zane! Please come back!"

"Zane!"

The ninja of ice aimlessly rushed through the thick, cold woods. Everything was pitch black. He could hear the voices of his friends looking for him, echoing in the distance through the trees. His eyes, now becoming red, could not see in the dark. He ran into many trees. He was weak, and the cold was becoming unbearable. "Snakes are cold-blooded." he sighed. Suddenly, he heard rustling in the bushes. His sensitive ears picked up noises from all directions. Then he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. Upon placing his hand there, he felt a small dagger sticking into his half scaly, half robotic head. Everything went black.

When he woke he was still in the Birchwood forest. Full green Scales ran up Zane's body, and sharp, long, fangs shot from his mouth in place of teeth. Seven snakes surrounded him. He was tied up, and the wound in his head hurt sharply throughout his whole body. He was no longer shivering. His body felt warm and numb. "Hypothermia." he thought, hanging his head.

"Soon you will be one of us." One of the serpentine guards hissed and laughed with his malevolent, crackling voice.

Zane felt scales form down his back. His tongue was forked and his eyes glowed red. "I have failed my friends." he said slowly.

Suddenly, two of the snake guards fell to the ground, both stabbed. Their bodies were almost immediately covered in the heavily falling snow. Kai held a brightly glowing torch. "Welcome to your doom, serpentine! Kai, Cole, Jay, and Lloyd stepped out from between the trees. In a fast, dangerous battle, the fought all the serpentine. Excited, yet cold, Zane broke free from his bounds and stood up. His tail swung in joy.

He walked up to the ninja of fire, wanting to get near the warmth of the fiery torch. "Kai I-" Suddenly, Kai turned around, anger in his eyes.

"Die, serpentine!" he swung his sword through the air. It impaled Zane through. Once he realized what he had just done, Kai swiftly pulled the sword away. The ninja of ice fell to the ground. Sparks flew from his fully snake body. "Oh-oh my gosh!" Kai screamed. Tears streamed down his face as he fell to his knees at the side of his friend. "Zane I didn't...Know!"

Lloyd, Cole, and Jay made killed off the last of the true serpentine. Then they rushed to the scene.

"Kai...you didn't..." Cole shivered in horror.

"Wait give him this." Lloyd stammered. He took out a small cup of tea. "W-we were able to get the snake antidote tea from the village." Cole pulled the lid of the cup and drained the warm lighted down Zane's throat. Almost instantly, the fangs, tail, and scales folded away into the hurt being of a simple nindroid.

"Speak to me!" Kai yelled, his lip quivering almost too much to even speak. "Please, Zane. I want you to speak to me."

"DiD i hUrT yOu?" Zane whimpered. Sparks flew from his damaged inside and melted the snow around him.

"No." Kai said. He hung his head. "I hurt you. I treated you wrongly. You are a great member of our team, and I ended up stabbing you. This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for me."

"It iS nOt yOuR fAuLt." Zane stammered.

"Zane..." Kai finished. "Never 'shut up' again. No matter how stupidly annoyed I sound. Always feel free to speak your mind. We all want to hear."

Quickly, Zane gasped and closed his eyes. The wires and gears inside of him began mending each other. His power source of a heart began to glow electric blue, then he was healed.

"Oh my gosh!" Everyone exclaimed, wiping the tears from their faces as Zane sat up.

"How did that happen?" Cole asked.

"My-my heart rate." Zane smiled. "It was suddenly raised from my love for the team I did not want to leave behind. It healed me."

"But you are a droid." Cole said.

"Shut up." Kai said, punching Cole in the shoulder. "That doesn't make him any different than the rest of us. So why can't he have a heart of feelings, too? Now let's treat him like the real friend he is, from now on."

(c) Neon-Frost, deviantArt. Neonfrost, Fanfiction/Quotev.


End file.
